Other links

Future international tours planned

31 January 2008

David Bintley and Christopher Barron spoke last week about the Company's recent tour to Japan, revealing further large-scale touring plans for the future.

'The tour was very, very successful,' reported David, 'with full houses and standing ovations, which is always rewarding. It's been a while since we've done a tour which has been on that large a scale. It was good for the Company because we took a mixture of repertory, we took something old [Coppélia] and something
new [Beauty and the Beast], whereas our last lengthy sojourn was New York with Two Pigeons and Dante Sonata as part of a themed Ashton programme.'

David also indiciated that this was a sign of things to come. 'It's marking a return to that kind of large-scale international tour, with several cities and a mixed repertory. The work that we've been doing and the work that Chris [Barron, Chief Executive] has been doing over the past couple of years has really
started to bear fruit. Japan has happened, it looks like China is good providing we can get the money together, we've got a return date for Japan, so it looks like we’re starting to build some genuine relationships with places where we can go and be effective and also be ourselves a little bit – not just touring classics.'

Birmingham Royal Ballet's Chief Executive Christopher Barron, who cited a rise in international touring as one of his principal aims when he first joined the Company, was also happy with the tour. 'It is fitting that a world-class Company, especially one with such an international body of dancers, should be performing all over the
world', he said this afternoon.

Christopher, along with Technical Director Paul Grace, have recently returned from a fact-finding mission to China, where they have been looking at prospective touring venues for the Company. The visit also included a gala event to mark the opening of the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing.

The brand-new venue, affectionately known locally as 'the
egg', hosted two galas, featuring guests from Birmingham Royal Ballet, The Royal Ballet, Hamburg Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Paris Opéra Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet and National Ballet China. Birmingham Royal Ballet were represented by Principals Chi Cao and Nao Sakuma.

The Company's Chief Executive was full of praise for the pair, saying that they both 'represented fabulously, as performers and as ambassadors.' He talked further of the proposed plans for repeat visits, saying:
'These galas marked not just the opening of a wonderful new venue, but of the furthering of the relationship between Birmingham Royal Ballet and China. Funding permitting, we're all set for a swift return to the venue, as well as theatres in Shanghai and Guangzhou.'